2 String Quilt finishes!

 FirstlyI finished my RSC String Quilt using only blue, green, pink and yellow blocks.

It measures 42”square and is machine quilted. I picked out leftover bindings using the four  colours of the blocks. I pretty much matched the colour of the blocks to the same coloured bindings. I’m really pleased with this quilt. 

This finish made me feel like making more string blocks, this time a little smaller and using a central white strip in every block. Again I used telephone directory paper for the foundation of the blocks. I trimmed the blocks to 4.5” and arranged them in four making a white diamond in the middle of the group.

I think it it really effective.

I found a good length of solid pale blue binding in my bag of leftover bindings and found a remnant of that same fabric to make more to add to the leftover piece. I had a piece of blue and lemon flowered fabric in my stash which was just big enough when pieced to make the backing.

Machine quilted, the quilt finished at 25” square.

I so enjoyed making these two quilts that I decided to make another straight away. My basket of strings was very depleted so I spent sometime cutting strings from larger scraps. I have made progress in sewing the 36 string blocks I need for my next quilt. I should have enough of the solid pale blue binding to bind this third little quilt. 

Joining up with Angela’s So scrappy blog for RSC 2023.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Finished the cushion covers

 I finished making the 36 string blocks for my next baby quilt for the local maternity unit. A real mixture of fabrics. Sometimes there was only one bit of a string scrap for me to use. I’m surprised how well the middle white strings stand out in the blocks.

Here they all are pinned into rows ready to sew later. The fabric next to them is the backing fabric.

The photo isn’t terribly good as the light is fading and I took it in the electric light.

We took my friend Margaret to the local pantomime yesterday evening. It was excellent - Beauty and the Beast. The script was written by a local chap who provides scripts every year for our Amateur Talisman Theatre. There are always jokes included which relate to our town of Kenilworth. We are very fortunate to have two Amateur theatres, the other one being the Priory Theatre. Our family and another family we know came too and a good time was had by all. I gave Margaret the finished cushion covers, wrapped up  for her to open on Christmas Day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they fit the special cushion pads she has and that she likes my colour choices. I have to say they were a real fiddle to finish so I hope they work.

The pattern is called Hidden Rails which I found in a Pola Quilting youtube tutorial.

I wrote and posted the Christmas cards earlier in the week and this morning I wrote and sent a whole list of Jacquie Lawson cards. I’ve decided to cut down on cards this year so actually sent email cards to many of the people I have previously sent real cards to. However that wasn’t straightforward as I managed to loose my work halfway through and had to start all over again! So frustrating. Another thing I cut out this year was my Annual Round Robin, replacing it with a short message instead.

Hoping to fit in a little sewing this coming week as I would like to finish machine quilting and binding the RSC String Quilt and also complete the baby String quilt. 

Joining up with Angela’s RSC So Scrappy blog.

Gifting makes me happy!

 We have had a very busy week as we had a new central heating boiler and a new water tank fitted. It was a big two days job which was done very professionally. One gas engineer worked solidly both days, a second engineer came for part of the first day and an electrician too. However it was a pleasure to have them. Most of the work was done by the first guy. He told us he had two little sons, a baby 6 weeks old and a two and a half years old toddler. I was so impressed with the great job he did, clearing up and walking us through the new system that I decided to offer him two of my finished quilts( both of them in the pile of quilts for the Linus Project) for his little ones  and he was really delighted. That made my day.

These are the two quilts I gifted:

Like many other quilters I just love making these quilts but give them away and I get such a lot of pleasure when they are well received like these were.

I also managed to do a lot of sewing, shutting myself away in my sewing room well away from all the hustle of engineers. I have done almost all of the machine quilting on my RSC String blocks quilt and hope to finish this next week.

I also re-watched a few tutorials by Pola Quilting. More string blocks using a narrow white centre strip. I have used this idea a lot and as I have lots of white scraps and a basket of strings I decided to make enough for a quilt to donate to the local Maternity Unit. They have to be 24” square so 36 x 4.5” square should be perfect. I chain pieced them and trimmed them and laid them out. That was when I discovered I couldn’t count as I had only made 33 blocks. However tomorrow  I’ll make the extra three.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

 A busy sewing week:

Pleased with my sewing this week. Firstly I finished the Dinosaur Quilt. It measures 47” square and is all machine quilted. I bought a piece of wavy rainbow coloured striped fabric two or three years ago and used it to back and bind this quilt. I am delighted with the result. I am going to keep this in my cupboard until another baby arrives somewhere. I like to keep a small stash aside for such purposes.

Other photos:

I also sewed together the rows of my  RSC Strippy Quilt. It looks great and is now ready for a good press so it can be basted and machine quilted.

I started to make two cushion covers for a friend who now had special seat pads in the two armchairs in her lounge. Their plastic covering didn’t appeal to her so she asked if I could make some nicer covers.

I follow Pola’s Quilting Youtube and saw a great block pattern which I loved. Pola uses lots of scrap fabrics including recyled shirts so I used an old shirt of my husband’s and bright leftover Jelly Roll strips. 

One block made

And seven others being constructed.

Hoping to get these finished this week.

Joining with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

Layout for new RSC quilt

 I’ve had a busy week sewing, finishing one quilt, machine quilting another and then gathered together the RSC String blocks I have been making over the past couple of years.

I had a good number of String blocks in various colours but the majority were blue, green, pink and yellow so I decided to make a quilt from those four colours.

Here it is set out on my “design “ floor.

I make them using telephone directory pages as foundations so my next task is to remove all the papers from the blocks. An easy job to do whilst I watch TV.

Another evening I sewed on the binding to my Penguin Parade quilt. I am happy with the result.

It finished at 36” x 40”. Some close ups:

I basted and machine quilted this quilt - Field Day from the book Seamingly Scraps.

I sewed in all the ends from the quilted lines of machine stitching using a Self-threading needle. I recently heard these mentioned on a Youtube video. What an amazing invention! So easy to use- I wish I had heard of them years ago!

And now I can trim and bind it.

Joining up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

Another finished flimsy

 I did a lot of sewing this week but also a lot of unpicking due to not reading the pattern carefully.

A couple of years ago I saw  a lovely quilt on Sylvia’s Treadlestitches blog. It was from a book called Seamingly Scraps. I thought the pattern would be a great way to use some of my larger pieces of novelty fabrics and managed to get a cheap second hand copy online. I used a piece of little dinosaur fabric which has a lovely blue background and is a great focus print. On one level the pattern is very clear, how the multi coloured 2.5” scraps fit together to make the diagonal “pathway” which weaves through the quilt top. I had a super time chain piecing them but when I came to lay out the blocks I found that the little four patches didn’t work because the majority of my squares were cut from directional fabrics.I couldn’t abide all those elephants, cats etc going sideways or standing on their heads so practically took all the finished blocks to pieces and started again, matching each block to the pattern! What a waste of time and energy!

 Anyway, it’s now a top and this afternoon I basted it so next week I can machine quilt it. Not sure how I will do that yet.

Not good lighting because it was getting dark.

A close up showing the dinosaur fabric and the “pathways”.

I also machine quilted the Penguin Parade quilt and have started to echo quilt the stars on it.

Late this afternoon I decided to investigate my RSC String quilt blocks and see what I could make from them. I’ve laid them out and almost managed to make a quilt which should measure 40” square. Just need to make 4 more pink String Blocks. Another job next week when I hope to get this RSC project on the way to being finished. 

In the end, a productive week.

Joining in with Angela’s SoScrappy RSC blog.

Penguin Parade and a fnish

 I’ve been working on my Penguin Parade top this week and this is as far as I have got:

It measures 31.5” wide and 36” long. I’m going to add a narrow yellow border to each side and then another turquoise polka dot strip all around. That will finish at a reasonable size for a Project Linus quilt.

I now only have small leftovers of batting in my stash so I will have to buy some new batting this week so I can baste it.

I also finished the star Maternity Unit quilt:

And used a piece of fabric I have had in my stash for several years:

My sister Pat bought me a couple of metres of this many years ago when we went to the huge Festival of Quilts together in Birmingham. Happy memories for me, Pat loved picking this out for me and I have enjoyed remembering the happy times we had together studying the quilts.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog. I think my Penguin Parade top qualifies as the Wonky Stars are part of my RSC blocks stash.